Long Minister Poems

Here and Hereafter
by Michael R. Burch

Life’s saving graces are love, pleasure, laughter ...
wisdom, it seems, is for the Hereafter.



Laughter’s Cry
by Michael R. Burch

Because life is a mystery, we laugh
and do not know the half.

Because death...

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Juvenilia: Early Poems XI

Myth
by Michael R. Burch

after the sprung rhythm of Dylan Thomas

Here the recalcitrant wind
sighs with grievance and remorse
over fields of wayward gorse
and thistle-throttled lanes.

And she is the myth of the scythed wheat
hewn and...

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World War II Poems and Holocaust Poems - VI - Chaim Nachman Bialik, Erich Fried

After My Death
by Chaim Nachman Bialik
translation by Michael R. Burch

Say this when you eulogize me: 
Here was a man—now, poof, he's...

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Reveren’ Carlton Whitney was the pastor of our church, and someone I looked up to as a child. 
Six foot six, with piercing eyes, a booming voice, and yet…his disposition, thankfully - was mild.

The very...

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 TUAN TATA : Song of Uda - I
by T. Wignesan

(Patrick Noone, a British anthropologist, discovered the Ple-Temiar tribe living isolated in the jungle highlands in the State of Perak on the west coast of...

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It was 1968 we'd gathered again in the school auditorium my tiny hands sweating only five years old while my name was called in all of this cold  
civil rights riots plagued my little...

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As i reported my stalker and identity thief 2002 to the FBI she began climbing into my window for poetry my grandfathers world war 11 medal information this resulted in her arriving with a gunman...

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God's Return Ticket

Did you ever wonder about the Almighty’s criteria or selection process for reincarnation of souls back on Earth? Just think some famous politician, movie star, sports figure,criminal, dictator, and so on could use...

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The Story
by Kamal Nasser
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

I will tell you a story ...
a story that lived in the dreams of my people,
a story that comes from the world of tents.
It is a story...

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(Continuing the trip through Hell of Dante with poet Virgilio)

Pah-peh Sah-tan, Pah-peh Sah-tan al-ept!”,
Started Pluto with his hoarse voice toss
And that gentle wise, who any knowledge kept,

Told to encourage me: “don’t have a loss 
By...

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Simon wizard, you poor under his sway
That all things of God, which then of good will
Must be always brides, and you birds of prey

For gold and silver adulterate still,
Now it's time that the trumpet sounds...

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What Kind of People Are We

In a Shakespearean sense of tragedy and doubt the well-used
“To Be or Not To Be” from Hamlet is not the question I shall
discuss in this narrative. Rather, I shall consider...

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De Tod Motet//
Listen to my raw//
Observe my new law//
Innocent quench hunger waves//
With my black rhymes//
We are reaching the last days they say//
Be with me in soul and everyday//
Because i see dogs piercing sharp emotions to...

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I Was So Lost

I had been raised in church but a religious church.
They did acknowledge there was a God but
His Son was pictured as dead upon a cross.  This
was the picture that I carried...

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I have so many places/acts dear to my heart
I’m just dying to share some with you
Not to boast, I but honor them, all played a part,
I'm sure helped to bring me in your view!

Tell me...

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Everybody moved out of the country to get a taste of the shining city
Ripe banana, ripe plums, are perishing in Uncle Sam’s broiling sun
I cannot stand the scorching heat that is swelling up from the...

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Listen the drums are rumbling and the pots are bubbling
Listen, the drums are rolling and pretty girls are dancing
Listen the drums are speaking and my heart is singing
Listen the drums are beating and I am...

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??Isaiah 63:11-12 KJVAAE??
[11] Then he remembered the days of old, Moses, and his people, saying, Where is he that brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd of his flock? where is he...

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This is the 2nd Half - sorry, this is the only way to get my long pieces posted - an full length audio version is also posted 


“Every single person, and the minister agreed…and just...

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OK

It’s ok to think I'm disabled, it’s not ok to ignore my atheism;
It’s ok to know I'm firstly an atheist, it’s not ok to assume this has always been obvious; 
It’s ok to understand that...

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Human foot-traffic is flowing along slightly faster than 2020,                          ...

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THE DESERT THE WILDERNESS THE STORM

I am parched, my back is arched, 
my body racked with pain,
Nothing green in sight, 
my thirst, my plight, 
eyes playing tricks on me again. 

An illusion of rest beside...

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NEWS Item AP: TOGO
LOME – In an effort to topple a government set up to end a 24 year dictatorship rebellious army troops seized the state broadcasting station yesterday, then left the building but returned...

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Our UU ecofeminist minister
was verbally accosted one Sunday morning
after celebrating multicultural peace
and respect 
and integrity
sufficient to restore private ego- and public eco-justice.

This was far too much to take in,
to peacefully and holistically rake in,
for a...

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My opinion on religion Take 1
I am in the unexpected throes of spring cleaning
Suddenly with no warning 
7 people are unexpectedly arriving in a few minutes for an Easter lunch.
Easter lunch already?
Why didn’t anyone mention...

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